Feeding livestock in circular food systems. From empirical insights to system optimization in Kenya

Summary

Food insecurity is a major issue in East Africa, where many people do not get enough nutrients, partly because diets contain little milk, meat, or eggs. At the same time, demand for these foods is rising. Producing more livestock products in the usual way is problematic, since it often requires feed that could also be eaten by people and increases pressure on land and the environment.
This research explored how livestock farming in Kenya can become more “circular”, meaning animals mainly eat resources people cannot use, such as crop residues, by-products, food waste, or grass. Studies looked at how urbanization affects livestock farming, how circular current feeding practices are, whether insects can replace imported soybean meal in dairy cow diets, and how local feed resources can best be used across animal species. The results show that circular livestock systems can help improve food and nutrition security.